Efficacy of Shaming Penalties: Evidence From SEC Football

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2012

Description

Use of public humiliation as a deterrent to crime lias a long history as does the debate over its effectiveness. A recent rule change in college football presents a natural experiment to test the effectiveness of so-called shaming penalties, In 2004 the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) mandated that the head official in football should announce to the crowd the jersey number of the offending player when an infraction is called. We use data from Southeastern Conference Football (2000-2007) to evaluate the effect of disclosing the offender to the public on the number of penalties called in conference play, We find a significant decrease in penalties per game after the rule change.

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